In the Spring of 2020, the Prague 6 Municipality removed the monument to Marshal Konev from Náměstí Interbrigády (International Brigade Square). The statue had a long history of contestation and was eventually removed in 2020 following a successful petition campaign the previous year. During these thirty years, many actors played… Read More
On Vallabhai Jhaverbhai Patel’s 143rd birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled India’s tribute to him in the form of the world’s tallest statue. Standing at 182 metres, the Statue of Unity is almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty. It was revealed with military celebration and Hindu inaugural… Read More
In September 2021, the Modeste Testas statue in Bordeaux, which commemorates the city’s involvement in the slave trade, was covered in white plaster. Initially, the City Council believed there were racist motives behind the move, so they issued a legal complaint and started an investigation. However, it was established that… Read More
Inspired by historian Benjamin Stora’s recommendations on French-Algerian reconciliation regarding their tumultuous shared colonial history, the Amboise town council, backed by the Elysée Palace, commissioned a sculpture to commemorate Emir Abdelkader, an anti-colonial fighter who was imprisoned in the city during the nineteenth century. He later moved to Syria, where… Read More
In 2019, the New York City Council announced the installation of two monuments for Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which was a seminal moment for gay rights. After being postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some LGBTQIA+ activists, frustrated… Read More
Mexico City was the only city known to have two statues of Cristopher Columbus. Themonuments were both 19th-century statues placed within walking distance of each other – inPaseo de la Reforma and Calle Buenavista, in the heart of Mexico City. Given its visibility andposition in a heavily trafficked street, the… Read More
The Statue of Queen Victoria, commissioned for her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and installed in Hong Kong in 1896, has been a prominent feature of Victoria Park since 1952. Initially symbolising British colonial legitimacy, it has become a complex symbol in post-colonial Hong Kong. While most locals view the statue… Read More
There is a strange irony in Exeter City Council’s recent reversal of their decision to relocate a statue of nineteenth-century military leader, General Sir Redvers Buller; the man who had already earned himself the nickname ‘Reverse Buller’ for his garish military tactics and organisational failings. On January 12th, 2021, it… Read More
We are pleased to present the case on a statue of Robert Towns in Townsville, Australia, as part of a series of in-depth studies for the Contested Histories Initiative. We hope that this series will provide insights and lessons learned for engaging with and addressing instances of disputed historical legacies… Read More
When a protestor left a sign on the doors of Oxford’s University Church reading ‘Rhodes, You’re Next’, there was little doubt that the monumental Black Lives Matter movement, sweeping the world after the death of George Floyd, would next be turning its attention to the statue of the imperialist figure… Read More
We are pleased to present the case on The Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles and His Legacy as part of a series of in-depth studies for the Contested Histories Initiative. We hope that this series will provide insights and lessons learned for engaging with and addressing instances of disputed historical legacies… Read More
This week, activists in Europe and the United States attacked statues of historical figures because they are seen as colonialists, imperialists, slave-traders, and racists. Will these symbolic acts result in the structural and systematic changes that are needed? Steven Stegers, Marie-Louise Ryback-Jansen, 10 June 2020, The Hague/Berlin A monumental movement… Read More